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Copying Word for Word

One of my very pet peeves is seeing another site or blog copying my work word for word and claiming it as their own. Blogs especially are notorious for recyling other people’s work without giving any attribution to the original writer. Lack of creativity and knowledge, lack of grey matter between the ears, lazyness or simply not knowing what to post that day — whatever the reason, it is copyright infringement and it is not kosher. Just today, I emailed a blogger who copied the post I did way back in July 2007 entitled “The Value of Media Mentions” without

How to Sell to a Retailer

Selling to a customer is not the same as selling to a retailer or store owner. If you want your products sold in other stores, you need to remember that buyers/retailers/store owners are not primarily interested in your product; rather, they want the profit that your product can bring. Here are some things to consider when dealing with retailers: Know your demographics To successfully sell your products to a retailer, you need to have answer to questions such as: Who will your products appeal to? Who would buy your products? What is the typical customer of the retail store where

Earning Online By Not Doing Anything

Someone asked if it is possible to earn online through advertising by simply creating a website and then not really doing anything after that. Don’t we all want that — to earn on autopilot without doing anything at all? One of the first mistakes is thinking that you can create a website, leave it and not do anything yet continue to earn from advertising. I know of sites “abandoned” by their owners that continue to earn good advertising income, but these are sites where some great work was done early on (i.e. get optimized for the search engines and links

How to Create a Productive Work Environment

Managing Employees

From Jack Mitchell's book Hug Your People: The Proven Way to Hire, Inspire, and Recognize Your Employees and Achieve Remarkable Results here are five principles on how to create a cordial, friendly, motivated and productive work environment

Brand Management: The Open Framework

Branding

Are you ready to open? If so, we've put together a strategic framework that capitalizes on both the social web's traits and technologies and the icitizenry's power to be both medium and message.

How Are You Coping with the Economic Downturn?

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is the non profit economic think tank who has the distinction of making the official announcement that we are in a recession. While Martin Feldstein’s group is yet to announce that we are in a recession, signs seem to be pointing that we are in a very bad downturn, if not a recession. The stock market is going crazy; the gas prices is through the roof; foreclosures are sprouting like mushrooms; consumers are holding off spending, and so on. The question is: are you and your business prepared for a recession? Read some

20 Questions to Ask When Selling a Business (Part 2)

Business Management, Buying and Selling a Business

Selling a business is not easy, and you need a lot of preparation and assistance to help you navigate this complicated process. If you plan on selling your business, here are some questions you need to ask yourself.

20 Questions to Ask When Selling Your Business

Business Management, Buying and Selling a Business

Event: Smart & Simple Strategies for Startup Success

Microsoft Office Live is organizing an event for women entrepreneurs entitled Vision to Venture: Smart & Simple Strategies for Startup Success . This event will be held in the following cities: St. Louis = April 2 San Diego = April 15 Miami = April 22 Austin = April 24 Seattle = May 9 If you live anywhere near these areas, you may want to check this out. Registration is free anyway. If you cannot join in person, you can register for the free, on-demand Webcast – available in May.

Choosing the Right Product Lines

When you open a store, whether brick and mortar or online, you start by thinking your store’s concept. What is your store going to be? What image do you want to convey? What type of consumer do you want to reach? Then you move on to what products will you sell to convey the concept and image you have in mind. Or at least that’s how it is supposed to be. I came across someone who wanted to open an online store selling military coins and eco-friendly stuff for babies and adults. My first reaction was “Whaaaaat?” Military coins and

Starting an Auction Web Site

eBay’s huge success can inspire others to replicate its business model and start their own auction site. Alas, it is hard to follow eBay’s model where anything and everything can be traded on their site (within their guidelines, of course). Even Yahoo Auction, with all their marketing might and technology, can’t even hold a candle to eBay. None of the big auction sites – from Ubid to Overstock Auctions — can really claim to have anywhere near the customer base of eBay. If you are thinking of starting an auction website, the key to success is FOCUS. Do not go

Questions to Ask to Understand Customers of a Business

Whether you are thinking of starting a new business, buying an existing business or a franchise, it is important to understand the customer base of the business. The most successful businesses are those who know and deeply understand their customers; afterall, the goal of every business is to get and keep customers. Here are some questions to ask to help you understand the customers of the business: Does the business cater to individual customers or businesses? Or is it the government? If individuals, do you know the demographics of the target market? If businesses, how big are these companies? Are